Meet Moorpark Unified’s New School Resource Officer, Nathalie Ospina
Deputy Nathalie Ospina
Photo courtesy Ventura County Sheriff's Office
(Moorpark, California) Jan. 9, 2026—Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputy Nathalie Ospina has been named Moorpark Unified School District’s new school resource officer, replacing Deputy K’Lynn Jackson, who served MUSD for the past two years.
The district thanks Jackson for her years of dedicated service to Moorpark students, staff and families.
Ospina took an uncommon professional path to law enforcement. A native of Colombia, she previously worked as an architect, earning a master’s degree in architecture and living abroad for much of her career, including time in Barcelona and Brazil, before returning to the United States in 2019. After finding it a challenge to restart her architecture career, she chose to pursue law enforcement as a new path focused on service and community impact.
Ospina brings four and a half years of experience with the sheriff’s office to the role. She began her law enforcement career working in the county jails before serving as a patrol deputy in Moorpark.
When she learned about the opportunity to work as a school resource officer, she said she knew it was the right fit.
“I’ve always known I wanted to work as an SRO,” Ospina said. “You have so much more influence with kids. If you can reach even one student, that can have a ripple effect on their life.”
As MUSD’s school resource officer, Ospina’s focus includes both physical safety and social emotional wellness.
“When I took this job, I felt a bigger responsibility,” she said. “I care about bullying and student welfare, and I also think about preparedness and planning for worst-case scenarios. These are my kids. This is my community.”
Ospina is also a mother of two, and she said that perspective shapes how she approaches her work in schools.
She said being a mom gives her a firsthand understanding of the pressures parents face as they try to balance work, home and their children’s wellbeing.
“That makes me more empathetic with families and with kids, and it helps me know when to be firm and when to be gentle,” she said.
Ospina is trilingual, speaking English, Spanish and Portuguese, and emphasized that families, students and staff are welcome to connect with her at any time.
“My door is open to everyone, to families, to the students, to staff,” Ospina said. “I want to make sure everyone feels like I am someone they can come to.”
“We’re excited to welcome Deputy Ospina to the Moorpark Unified community,” Superintendent Dr. Kelli Hays said. “A strong partnership with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office is an important part of maintaining safe, supportive campuses. We encourage students, staff and families to introduce themselves when they see her at school events or on our campuses.”
In addition to her patrol experience, Ospina is an instructor for the sheriff’s academy. She also serves in several agency support roles, including as a women’s committee member, an Explorer program advisor and a disability instructor as well as a public information officer.
Ospina is also the sheriff’s office liaison and representative for Special Olympics. Through Special Olympics, she helps coordinate community events, including the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which raises funds to support athletes by covering costs such as transportation, medical and dental resources and other travel needs.
She said she hopes to increase student participation in future Torch Run events and other opportunities connected to inclusion and community service.
Outside of work, Ospina practices yoga several times a week and spent seven years as an amateur kickboxer, an experience that helped shape her interest in instruction and training.
She and her family recently adopted a rescue boxer beagle mix, and she also has two guinea pigs.